Know Your Place Community Research Project: Young People leading the change in Staffordshire

Information for parents and carers

Staffordshire Council for Voluntary Youth Services (SCVYS), University of Staffordshire and Staffordshire County Council are working together to support young people to have a say about where they live and what they think needs to change. The project is called Know Your Place and is funded by the UKRI’s Community Research Network fund. UKRI have commissioned the Young Foundation to administer the grant.

Between September 2025 and August 2026, we are supporting Innovator Organisations from across Staffordshire to deliver two connected projects: Understand Your Place Research project and Change Your Place Social Action Projects.

Your child or young person in your care has the opportunity to be involved in these projects with Burton & District Mind through their Young Person Equity Group.

This webpage provides you with information about the project your child might be involved in.

What will we do?

  • Deliver a Understand Your Place research project with Young People. This will involve young people being involved in some activities through which we will gather feedback from young people about what it is like to grow up in Staffordshire, what their concerns are about the area and what they think needs to change.
  • Work with Young People to work out what the findings from Understand Your Place mean and who they can be developed into a Change Your Place project.
  • Work with young people to plan and deliver a Change Your Place project based on the findings from Understand Your Place.

What will do then?

We will collect the things your child/young person in your care and other young people tell us and work with them to share this in a way people understand. This might be in the form of a report, podcast or video.

The findings from our project will also be added to the wider Know Your Place findings. We might also write up the findings in the future to be included in a book or journal. Where possible, we will always try to make sure all young people involved in this project and their parents or carers see any reports so you can see how the things they have told us have been shared.

We will never use real names unless you give us consent to do so.

Your rights in this project

Your child/young person in your care will be asked to give their agreement to be part of the project by filling in a form.

 

Your child/young person in your care does not have to take part in this project. If you have completed the agreement form but you or your child/Young Person in your care changes their mind, you can still opt out of their involvement by filling out a form linked below:

 

We would like to take some photos or videos to show what we have done together. If you do not want us to take any photos or videos of your child, please let us know using the form below. They can still take part in the project even if you do not want any photos of them to be taken.

Even if you do agree to them being involved, they can stop taking part at any time, even after they have started the project. If they want us to remove their ideas from the project, they need to let us know within one month from the date they told us their ideas. Wherever possible, we will do this; however, if the ideas have been gathered as part of a group discussion or activity, it may not be possible.

Our responsibilities to you

  • We will not name your child/young person in your care in any reports about the project unless you tell us we can. We will only collect the things they tell us.
  • You can opt out of your child/young person in your care being involved in the Know Your Place Research project or having any photos or videos recorded of them by completing the form below.
  • If you do not want us to use your photos or audio/video recordings, your child can still take part in the project activities.
  • Any data we collect will be processed in line with GDPR.  SCVYS will anonymise the data which will be securely stored on a password protected computer for 5 years after the project ends
  • Your personal information will be stored in a secure place and will be confidential to the team at SCVYS.
  • If a project report is created, we will send you a copy of the report and invite you to a meeting to hear about it, if you want us to.  Please ensure you leave your contact details to allow us to do this.

If you have any questions or require more information about this research, you can contact us in the following ways: 

Innovator Organisation Lead: Keri Lawrence, Development & Sustainability Officer, Burton & District Mind

Phone 01283 566696

or Email info@burtonmind.co.uk

Do You Need Help?

Or Email info@burtonmind.co.uk

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Call: 01283 566696

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